What is in-plane stiffness of contact element and how to calculate that

[Tinni1]

Hello,

I am performing numerical simulations of the axial-compressive test of cold-formed steel-lipped channel sections (stud) connected to a small length of U sections (track) at both ends with self-tapping screws under axial-compressive loading (displacement-controlled loading along the length of the stud-i.e, z direction in Abaqus model). I have introduced contact interaction between the stud and track through a general contact algorithm. In the normal direction, I applied hard contact, and in the tangential direction, I applied the coulomb frictional coefficient through the penalty friction method. The picture of the model is attached herewith.

My question is:
Is there any way to define the in-plane stiffness of the contact elements? How I should do that? Any possible help or direction towards finding the answer to my query is highly appreciated!

 

[FEA way]

I guess that you mean stiffness in the tangential direction, right ? Is it Abaqus/Standard or Explicit analysis ?

 

[Tinni1]

Thanks for your response. Yes, it is stiffness in the tangential direction. It is Abaqus explicit analysis.

 

[FEA way]

Then check the documentation chapter "Frictional behavior", paragraph "Stiffness method for imposing frictional constraints in Abaqus/Explicit". Badically, the penalty stiffness in the tangential direction is in this case the same as the hard contact stiffness in the normal direction by default. You can modify it by specifying tangential softening (slope of the shear stress vs elastic slip relationship) or using a scale factor in contact controls.

 

[Tinni1]

Thank you !, I will check the documentation chapter as advised.